A blast from the past, from the 1971 past that is, where another Pakistan Army, which has moved on to raping entire governments not just it’s own women, did this:

“Bangladesh says Pakistani soldiers, aided by local collaborators, killed an estimated 3 million people, raped about 200,000 women and forced millions to flee their homes. Pakistan has disputed the allegations.”

It is also interesting to note that members of Jamaat-e-Islaami, Pakistan’s largest Islamic party than and now, are behind bars for raping and killing their fellow citizens. Not surprising, because the Jamaat is still active in these areas, but still jarring to note that the Jamaat’s war against Pakistan dates back so long and is so consistent- from fighting against Jinnah, to using all the dirty tricks in the book to screw over East Pakistan, and nowadays supporting myriad terrorist organizations.

“According to my personal experience in Karachi, if, let’s say, it is said that 100 people have died in target killings, when I did the investigation, I found that there were only 30 target killings,” Malik said.

“Seventy per cent were those people who wanted to be rid of their wives and girlfriends or girlfriends who wanted to be rid of their boyfriends. All the figures are with me, they killed them,” he added. #

Senator Rehman Malik. The truth published in Pakistani newspapers is often far, stranger than fiction.

I have noticed something fishy while using Google+ in Pakistan, over three different ISP’s in both Karachi and Lahore – that web browsing slows down a lot sometimes, and google+ especially crawls in fits and starts.

I suspect it’s something to do with Pakistani routers as turning on a VPN everything is blazing fast again. Of course, once the Pakistan Internet Ministry figures out how to slow down VPN links, they will do that too, until they decide to ban encrypted links all together!

Maybe VPN links are prioritized or ignored by the magical routers run by the wizards at the PTA as they solemnly inspect every internet packet for blasphemous or anti-state or anti-army or porn or anti-PTA or anti-Altaf bhai content? The list which they inspect is very long indeed.

It must be said, on behalf of the PTA, that they are doing an admirable job fending of the yobo’s at the high courts and supreme court who keep passing judgements to block ALL porn sites, facebook, and just about every other site on the internet where you might find blasphemous or anti-state content. Hence websites like rolling stone return this sad error message:

Access Denied

You don’t have permission to access “http://www.rollingstone.com/” on this server.

Reference #18.3a2a287c.1311324507.3b365b6c

It’s a fine line, blocking enough sites to keep the internet stone age morons at the courts and government happy, while not actually restricting internet usage. A happy fiction for all, though not for the rolling stone magazine, which I’m sure sells at least one copy a month at the Saeed book bank in Islamabad to the one music loving diplomat posted there.

In the future barter economy, who needs internet links anyways?

some blasts from the past on the same topic, which despite being old old pieces are still sadly valid today:

Was he drunk? Is he a non-closest bigoted raciast? Does he suffer from delusions of grandeur? Has the PPP lost even the little control it had over it’s many stooges, most of whom suffer from delusions of not being stooges in the first place? Is Zulfiqar Mirza a lion to Zardari’s whimpering poodle hiding in a corner behind five rows of containers and concrete barriers, as well as about ten percent of Pakistan’s security forces?

I think the answers to all the above questions is yes.

What is clear is that the gentlemen in the video above has upstaged Rehman Malik, the gentlemen who searches for terrorists and miscreants using google maps on his ipad while calling them “characters from star wars”, all without a internet connection on his ipad or even an app to connect the many security camera’s around Karachi.

Midair, the flight hit some serious turbulence that panicked my wife and children. When she asked one of the male stewards how long the turbulence was expected to last, she was answered in a low tone ‘Not to worry… I’ll hold your hand throughout the journey if you like’.

From the comments on an article complaining once again about the Pakistan national airline wasting money.

The evil which men do lives long after their deaths, and shades of Nazism are alive and kicking in Pakistan, evil clothed in odd ends of holy writ, brandished about by the Taliban and much of the mainstream media in Pakistan.

Nazi Germany started presecuting their Jewish citizens slowly, with many steps along the way like banning their employment in Government in 1933, than in 1935 banning them from the Army, in 1936 declaring them non-citizens of the state and banning them from all professional jobs. Only half the Jewish population of Germany had emigrated by the start of WWII…Than there was the holocaust during WWII…

Pakistan is well along the Nazi playbook for getting rid of the Ahmadi’s – they’re already for all practical intents banned from government and military service, and back in 1974 Pakistan passed a law declaring them a despised minority – heck it’s part of the Pakistani constitution. This not being enough, in 1984 even more draconian laws were passed, which in short make it a jailable offense for Ahmadi’s to live life as they would like to (some of the punishments carry the death penalty).

Strong words by a strong woman… blasts the Pakistan Army to kingdom comes. Pakistan is suffering from a severe case of stockholm syndrome, and Asma is one of the few brave persons who speaks out against the captor of the state, the Pakistan Army.

Pasted here for future reference… from 2010 sometime when doing volunteer work after the 2010 floods in Sindh.

Sultan Kot Proposed Medical Center

Summary: No need to go there. For the long version, read on!

It’s a small hospital + maternity clinic, set up in 1936 by a english missionary lady. She ran it till 1976, at which point she left. The place was built by her, presumably on missionary funds. In those times it was the only hospital, so was much needed. The property belongs to the missionary, or to her church.

While it ran, it was the most english of institutions, with her wandering about a strict purdah town in her skirt and umbrella. She also taught english to the local notables, which means the Aghas, as they are the only notables in Sultan Kot.

Sultan Kot was founded by the orginal Agha who had run away from Afghanistan and given this area by the local bigshot at that time whose name I don’t remember any more. He had aspirations to be a Sultan, hence the name Sultan Kot, which is a new town he built. The Aghas own all the surrounding area – about 60,000 acres irrigated land and assorted non irrigated. The total population is about 15,000 people in all of this area spread over 20 villages.

He asks why are Pakistani’s so against India when they watch Indian movies, every house watches Indian drama’s… so what’s the thing they’re against? He’s the most popular sports figure in Pakistan which everyone seems to like, so it’s good people like him are talking about such topics.

All over Pakistan, there are nonsensical attempts at security theater. The theater part is done very well, with people roaming around with machine guns, concrete barriers, and lots of ways to make the lives of people miserable in an attempt to really impress those whose lives are made miserable by the security – but the actual security part gets forgotten somewhere by the wayside in all the theater.

Drive to any Pakistani airport, and security will be busy scanning all entering vehicles using a thin metal stick. What do thin metal sticks have to do with finding bombs? Nothing at all, but that is not a question the Interior Ministry of Pakistan would ever ask, especially when the person importing the metal sticks (which are now being made in Pakistan) is likely a friend of a friend of a general/politician somewhere. The sticks certainly add a lot of theater and delay, thus accomplishing what seems to be the main aim of security in Pakistan.

There is corruption everywhere in Pakistan, but how do you go about buying tens of thousands of dowsing rods for millions of dollars? Even in a corrupt country like Pakistan, at least part of the functionality is delivered. Schools might not run, and teachers might not teach, but schools are built and teachers paid. What kind of a institution or person buys an instrument which they know won’t work and thousands will die because of it?

The Iraqi government has spent $85m on the ADE-651 and there are concerns that they have failed to stop bomb attacks that have killed hundreds of people.

The ADE-651 detector has never been shown to work in a scientific test. There are no batteries and it consists of a swivelling aerial mounted to a hinge on a hand-grip. Critics have likened it to a glorified dowsing rod.

Science doesn’t worry the security establishment in Pakistan. Saving lives bothers them even less. Making money however, is really important and that’s the crux of the story.

In 1999, the FBI put out another alert: “Warning. Do not use bogus explosives detection devices.”

If people in the US were buying and using bogus devices, then no wonder Pakistan is too. For my public service of the day I will send a copy of this memo, the BBC’s article and a short covering note to Rehman Malik, the guy in charge of security all over Pakistan.

The British have banned exports of this fake metal detector – because it kills peoples. The Pakistan’s government reaction? Build the same junk here!

Somewhere deep in the pits of the ISI and the Pakistan Interior Ministry, the two institutions in charge of security all over Pakistan, there must be someone who has studied high school Physics and knows this whole thing is a blatant fraud. Maybe no one there has, or they’ve forgotten – in which case they could just watch the Feynman lectures.

There are many ironies in this whole story, not the least being that for dowsing to work you have to use magic – something which somehow doesn’t quite fit into what’s kosher in Islam and even require Rehman Malik to make good on his promise of killing the next blasphemer he met.

The US has been on a rampage against using devices which don’t work, so I have to fit in this gem from an Iraqi general, who could be the cousin of Pakistani ones:

“I don’t care about Sandia or the Department of Justice or any of them,” General Jabiri said. “I know more about this issue than the Americans do. In fact, I know more about bombs than anyone in the world.”

Of course he does, because generals know best. Especially those in third world countries. This same general went on:

Checking cars with dogs, however, is a slow process, whereas the wands take only a few seconds per vehicle. “Can you imagine dogs at all 400 checkpoints in Baghdad?” General Jabiri said. “The city would be a zoo.”

Speed and making money is a higher aim then actually working or being true. Whether education, security or government, General Jabiri perfectly encapsulates the ideals and values of much of Pakistan.

There are many other questions raised by the equipment used by security forces around Pakistan – like what good is the selection and tendering process for important equipment the government uses? If the UK doesn’t let you import your favorite magic wand does that make you think about magic and it’s effectiveness or do you ask someone else to build you a magic wand? If you ask a company to build a road and it builds a dirt track do you reward it with another project? So many more questions and nobody in the government to ask them…